A few months ago, while stopped at a red light a truck next to me was waving for me to wind down the window. Ahem. I ever did so slightly enough to hear what he had to say, maybe saying, I had a low tire or something, but instead he wanted to fix the dent on the side of my car, up front. I never had that happen. He was saying, they, ( there was 2 of them) had a garage a few minutes away. Okaaaaay.

I smiled and said, no thanks. Wind it back up.

I don't know if they were legit or not. Just kind of weird. Is this a new fashion? Fixing dents?

lol. Too true. In my family on the one side, the one side I actually have something to do with there is only one occupation. Law Enforcement. I might give my one cousin I am closest to a call and ask this question.

Years ago, we had a situation in a parking lot. This was not funny. It was a scam. My sons and I were getting out of the car. The van next to me, claimed my son in the back opened his door up and hit his van causing a dent. I was right there, I said," not so."

He called the cops. lol. Fine. Call them. It was my cousin who came.

Anyway, we didn't move the cars. He made him open my back door and it didn't fit the dent! Of course not!

He was ranting and raving for me to pay him 500 right then and there. Until, he saw the door didn't line up. I called my insurance company, cause my cousin got his name etc, and I got his insurance company, and la de la, we both had the same one.

Well, it turned out, he does this over and over. He was making a couple thousand a month.

I had to laugh, honestly, cause when he said, he was calling the cops, I was just wondering which relative was coming.

Oh, That guy, that dent of mine that man in the truck wanted me to get fixed, was from a deer hitting the car.

One thing I don't understand about cops in the US is their choice of unmarked cars.

I mean, they're not really unmarked are they, because they only use US makes and only a few models of those?

You have to be pretty stupid to miss an unmarked police car trailing you here.

By contrast, in England the police use all sorts of makes of unmarked cars, including imports, and in lots of colors too, so it's much harder to tell and we're safer as a result.

If I didn't know better, I'd say State and Federal Governments here are giving handouts to their domestic car manufacturers by using a buy-local policy.
It all looks very socialist to me. Did the Russians win or have I missed something?

My wife called me at work one day to tell me that when she returned the car she rented they claimed that she damaged it. I told her to call our insurance company immediately and report their conduct. The car rental people changed their story within a few minutes.
These people are parasites on society.

If a cop in America tried to pull you over driving a green Toyota, the chances of him being shot would be astronomical. And with some good reason.

Its a safety thing.

Lots of retired Crown Vic's here at auction, black and white, name painted over, for 800 to 1200 bucks. Fun to scare people with. NO dent repair requests, no need for cousinly nepotism at the police department. few car jackings.

If the post office workers notice you getting out of a Crown Vic, you can even get a bart Simpson stamp. [ask cookie]

And the dent thing explains why so many Americans pack a pistol in their car.

Keep one in your trunk too so when you get locked in you can blast the guy just as it closes, or at least when it opens again.

But as I have discussed many times before, I and my fellow countrymen find guns too impersonal. They are simply for cowards to distance themselves from the act.

A punch, blade or cosh are just as effective and much more personal.

You need to mean it to do it the old fashioned way using these. Guns are just for wimps, old people or kids who didn't think and get locked up for something they wouldn't have done had it been more personal. So Americans that own guns are just wimpy, scare-d-cats who don't know how to fight or are afraid to fight.

Besides, guns need to be regulated. I see too many here that are badly designed and even go off with the safety on.

Regulate guns. Use your fists instead. And man up America.

I'd teach a daughter to fire a gun, but would be too ashamed to teach a son. Unless he was small.

Ian, all us kids had to learn to shoot a bow, and a gun before we were out of our teens. It came with the territory in my family. Since we own mountain property my kids know how to. I won several competitions growing up. I like target shooting. Just like I like peaceful quiet things too, like stamp collecting.

There's NO WAY a punch is going to be "just as effective" as my .45 ACP. It might be as effective as the prissy little .380s, (or 9mm kurtz in Germany) that cops in Europe use. The average home intruder is 6'2", 210 lbs and on some kind of uppers. That .45 will knock him down, guaranteed-none of this 9mm crap where the crackhead gets hit 7 times and still puts the cop in the hospital. My family is important enough to deserve every advantage I can muster.BTW, English bobbies had to start carrying guns AFTER their gun ban took effect. It was predictable-With the populace defenseless, crime skyrocketed, just as the NRA said it would. So every soldier and cop is a wimp? Easy to say online-cowardly, too.

Ian, all us kids had to learn to shoot a bow, and a gun before we were out of our teens. It came with the territory in my family. Since we own mountain property my kids know how to. I won several competitions growing up. I like target shooting. Just like I like peaceful quiet things too, like stamp collecting.

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Ask Ballsvalve he will tell you.

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I like that : BALLSVALVE. Thank you.

The 45 is too bulky for a car gun - kicks too hard for a good second shot at the pumped up ex- con with 400 tatoo's that wants to practice dismembering you and chaining your daughter in his basement for a year or 2.

Also the 45 would likely pass through the guy and kill grandma down the block.
Better at home.

I load the 380's with expensive rounds that mushroom into something that would stop a rhinocerous. Hard to go into the K-mart with a 45 in your pocket too.

Ian: The perverts do not discriminate by sex, so teach both kids to shoot.

Remember the golden rule. Never point a gun at someone you don't fully intend to shoot if needed.

Amazing story: Building something in Los Angeles 100 years ago. Sleazy area motel. Half way
up the metal stairs late one night and the creature from the black lagoon calls to me
from the bottom that he needs to borrow a few hundred bucks "Quick" - one hand behind his back...

Believe it or not, in my hands was a new lift top box with a brand new .380 back-up Stainless steel pistol - just picked it up hours ago. [unloaded]

Lifted the lid and gave him a view. Disappeared like the road runner.

A safer, easier alternative to staying alive in America is a good German Shepherd.

First rule of home invasion type criminals: BIG DOG? go to the next house.

I like to make people happy, Ballsvalve, LOL. BUT, that was a typo! Which makes it even funnier, Ballsvalve.

Let me tell you a little story about my grandfather who was german. Years ago, his house along with others were repeatedly being broken into by people wanting money for drugs. Some were caught which is how I know that. My mom and her parents were living there, with her on the second floor apt. It was a duplex. I got afraid for my mom and insisted she learn how to handle a gun. I took her out and taught her, and she was good, she was always a quick learner in everything.

This one night, sure again, she heard the commotion downstairs, and my granpap was broken into, the intruder had a baseball bat. He swung at my 92 year old granpap hitting him on the head, but, my very large, very muscular, even at 92, year old granpap took the bat off of him and beat the living crap out of him until, my mom got downstairs with the gun she was more than willing and able to use.

My grandma called the cops which was my relatives who showed up, and the man who broke in, pleaded to get my grandpa off of him. But, like I said, they were relatives.

92. Dig that. This man was built his whole life, 6'5 over 210, don't know where exactly, and he used to brag he didn't need weights to lift, he just lifted my grandma up and down.

It may sound like he had a sense of humor, but he was the meanest man I ever met in my life.

Ballsvalve, that is a really nice site. My own husband was a dog handler in the service, and my dad trained Boxers. I got a Coopers Hawk which started coming around when he was so little and now, he is full-grown but still sits with me out on the deck and lets me feed him. Pet him. Now, I have 2 fierce cats and one gentle Rottweiller. Or is it, 2 gentle cats and one mean Rottie. They take turns being each.

I love that bird by the way, I call him Popcorn. That is initially what I fed him when I found him. Or he found me and my bowl of popcorn.

One thing that I find odd, is with the bird, Popcorn, if anyone comes around me when we are sitting out on the deck, he goes after them. I never saw a bird do that. He probably doesnt want me sharing our popcorn. lol.

So... maybe get a bird for protection?

I just wanted to add too, that my dad was the stongest person physically, I ever laid eyes on. I saw him lift a sofa once, over his head by himself. .. I am one inch taller than he was. He was 5'2. I come from this long line of physically strong people on both sides of my family. I used to lift weights just for the fun of it, because I was a runner all my life, qualifying for the Boston, second time, at age 43...it is all in the genes. I got both crap genes and good genes.

The average home intruder is 6'2", 210 lbs and on some kind of uppers.

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So not that big then, and uncoordinated to boot. Should be easy to take down without the use of a gun. You only have to start to worry when they're over 250lbs. And then you can use the bat or a knife. It'll save you jail time as well.

So every soldier and cop is a wimp? Easy to say online-cowardly, too.

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Absolutely not. These guys are fighting other guys with guns. Not just the average druggy with two fists who can't see straight and just happens to be knocking on your door.

A good policemen would never need to use a gun unless confronted with a gun. Any good drywall saw will do.

Thanks Cookie and an excellent question. When confronted with somone with a gun, they call in specialized, trained units that have guns.

Their job is made a little easier than here, since guns are illegal. That means, if you see a gun (and he's not a farmer) then he's a bad guy.

It's not like here where every town cop and security guard is given a pistol instead of training them to handle themselves in self-defence.

The difference this makes is enormous. In England, if you run at a cop and hit him, he will beat you up. Here, a cop will shoot you and you could end up dead. All sense of proportionality has gone in the US. If you can live with that, then so be it. But I struggle with your values.

Do you really think punching a cop should be punishable by death?
Do you really think someone breaking into your house should also be punishable by death?

I wouldn't advise anyone coming into my house uninvited. I don't believe in capitol punishment if that is what you mean. I think, it is very sad to have to punish someone to 20 years for rape, but, if you have ever been in that situation, it probably isn't still enough, it isn't just the act, it is what it does to one's mind & life; I think it is very sad to punish anyone in taking years from their lives and those of their families, their loved ones, their kids, but you can't do around hurting others and expect to receive nothing. What if it were you. Your family.

I don't see how if someone is armed with a gun and pointing it at someone how, you can run and get the gun squad. Time is of the essence in saving another's innocent life. I would protect those I love with my own. So, it would help to have a cop with a gun who can help, not hear him say, " I will be back."

It is a sad world we live in, not enough of people who care enough, too many people too strongly adversed opinionated, too many shortages of so much that so many needs.

Where and how do we find that fine line to make it all work for everyone? I struggle with that.

I hate it when I ride past the bridges and see the homeless. Yet, I cannot turn my head away like so many others, and go blind, their is something inside of me that has to help.

I wish more people were like me, because then, others would get off my back.

Thanks Cookie. But like it or not, legalizing guns makes them more available. In England, I have NEVER seen a gun. That's right. You heard me. The first gun I saw was in Africa and, now I'm here, I see them everywhere. So there just isn't the level of gun crime you have here. Because if police find a gun on you, in your house or in your car you are arrested.

So, people do not die in England from getting shot. Unless they are farmers or victims of farmers.

People there get knifed, or punched or whacked with a bat. All very nasty but these attacks RARELY kill.

People are murdered here in high numbers because guns are legal and Americans are not as clever as the Canadians. So when they see a burglar they shoot him. Or if someone shouts at them, they shoot him. Or if someone punches them, they shoot him. Get my drift?